James' Myspace: What was that like?

NJO: So on the 13th of June 2013, without any warning, the proprietors of the world's most popular social media platform 2005-2008 went and put its entire existing content to the torch. Great job, wankers.*

I managed to recover a fair bit of James' Myspace by copypasting the remaining cached text in the Google search results. Here's what I got:


James on Myspace
www.myspace.com/29306000‎

James's profile on Myspace, the leading social entertainment destination powered by the passion of our fans.

Details. Status: Single; Hometown: Westwood; Orientation: Straight; Religion: Catholic; Zodiac Sign: Cancer; Children: Someday; Education: In college ...

Rutgers University-New Brunswick. New Brunswick,New Jersey; Graduated: N/A;
Clubs: Founder and Editor-in-Chief of The Centurion. President, Glee Club. President, Philoclean Society. Rutgers Ski Team, Rutgers Debate, New Jersey Mathematics League.
California State University-Fullerton. Fullerton, CA; Graduated: N/A; Degree: Professional; Major: J.D., Law. 2007 to 2010 ...

...

Sailing, Nautica, Lobster, the Alps, Romance, cabernet Sauvignon, knots, Port Wine, 80s music, Method Acting, Theatre, Maps, Tobacco Pipes, Cuban Cigars, Calculus, Sprinting, espionage, Argyle clothing, Slam poetry, Irish heritage, cocktail parties, Old Books that smell like leather, Wikipedia.com, Dictionary.com, US Constitution, video Activism, Jack FM, politics, camping, breakdancing, public speaking, machine guns, Boys Scouts of America, cobblestone, daydreaming, skipping rocks, New York City, esp Central Park, Alto Saxaphone, skyscrapers, Men's choir, Paintings with Music, National Review, football, climbing trees, sleeping in, stick-shift Sports Cars, Jack Russell Terriers, Airplanes at night, Fans, Brooks Brothers, Bear Mountain, hanging with my best friend and roomate Zach Matusheski, Power Yoga, the Wall Street Journal, Waterfalls, Spanish and Italian languages, Sushu, Strawberry Milkshakes, Artichoke hearts with butter, fake plants, Penny Loafers, being in love.

...

Harvard Classics Series, Dante on Truth, Cicero on Truth, Dosteovsky on Truth, Shakespeare on Love, Sun Tzu on War, Aurelius on courage, Buckley on Sailing, Russell on Mathematics, Aristotle on ethics, Machiavelli on ethics, Nietzche on Morality, Burke on Tradition, McIntyre on Virtue, Chambers on Communism, Weber on Beaurocracy, Shaw on Activism, Hoffer on Mass Movements, Zimmerman on Metaphysics, Ogilvy on Advertising, Bronough on Writing, Harvard on Management, Santorum on Family, Alinsky on tactics, Hyde on Leadership, Ayer on traveling, Plato on Soul, Bloom on Education, Schall on Education, D'Souza on Reagan, Bastiat on Law, Horowitz on Academia, Clancy on Espionage, Chesterton on Othodoxy, Friedman on Contract, Buchanan on immigration, Krakauer on Wilderness, Eliot on Life and Death, Aquinas on God, ... "Flowers for Algernon" and "Grapes of Wrath" are fiction favorites.

...

Anthony Dini. dude, check out my new song! 5 years ago. Ryan Sorba. Anthony Dini. Great song, but how about Juliet? 5 years ago. lila. oh James, you are so cool with your sunglasses, your abstract interests and your brilliant books. why myspace? and when are you coming again? 6 years ago


* Seriously, the destruction of an enormous historical resource like this makes me want to punch something, and when I say "something" I mean that Tom guy or whichever bright-eyed, coke-rictus-sporting billionaire bawbag did the despicable deed.

As of November 2013, the Google search results for "site:myspace.com" were still displaying text from the wiped pages, so I thought I'd experiment with this a bit. (See below)

I would say this gave me a small sense of the amount of stuff that future generations won't be getting to know about now.

(Updated 2nd January 2014. The way the textual data have faded away on Google makes me think of the data ghosts from the Doctor Who story "Silence in the Library/Forest of the Dead".)

site:www.myspace.com "occupation soldier"
About 2,400 results
About 1,070 results (2nd January 2014)

site:www.myspace.com "occupation airman"
About 45 results
4 results (2nd January 2014)

site:www.myspace.com "occupation sailor"
About 269 results
About 116 results (2nd January 2014)

site:www.myspace.com "occupation musician"
About 15,000 results
About 6,050 results (2nd January 2014)

site:www.myspace.com "occupation prostitute"
About 563 results
About 311 results (2nd January 2014)

site:www.myspace.com "occupation banker"
About 1,510 results
About 836 results (2nd January 2014)

site:www.myspace.com "occupation office worker"
About 1,080 results
About 278 results (2nd January 2014)

site:www.myspace.com "occupation acorn"
About 1,990 results
No results found for site:www.myspace.com "occupation acorn". (2nd January 2014)

site:www.myspace.com "hometown kuala"
About 1,440 results
About 874 results (2nd January 2014)

site:www.myspace.com "dob * 1920"
About 9,910 results
About 2,200 results (2nd January 2014)

site:www.myspace.com "occupation ngo"
2 results (2nd January 2014)

site:www.myspace.com "occupation teacher"
About 9,670 results (2nd January 2014)

(UPDATE: Okay, haha, so it later transpired that it wasn't quite the total historica-bonfire I imagined. If an original-iteration Myspace user wishes to recover their old content, they apparently can do that now. Still far from ideal for future historians *cough* and nosey people like me *cough*. Also still a total dick move to just leave your users hanging like that for, what was it, a year? until letting them know their pictures, journals etc. could be recovered. When the site went down I remember reading a post by one guy, devastated, claiming he'd used Myspace for keeping a detailed journal of his medical school career and travelogues which were understandably very dear to him. You've got to imagine there are a lot of people like that who had something important to them stored on Myspace, but who for whatever reason (disenfranchisement; the shortness of life) will never happen to see the memo about the recoverability of said stuff. So, yeah. Definitely could've been handled better.)

I Have a Dream

Much has changed since the time of Edmund Burke. While prudence, honor, restraint, reverence, self-discipline, liberty and conviction will always be conservative, modern “conservative” declarations seem to directly contradict these classical virtues. There is no better time than now to explore how these themes have changed and how these virtues clash. This is a time when Peter Lawler believes the Republicans will become two parties split between anti-libertarians and libertarians. Former Soviet political prisoner Natan Sharansky’s The Case for Democracy is the neo-conservative version of the Declaration of Independence; calling for the promotion of democracy for oppressed people’s throughout the world. Fiscally, our Republican allies are anything but conservative. As the Wall Street tycoon once said, “our trade deficit and its fiscal deficit are at nightmare proportions.”

But our universities are also at a crossroads, becoming what David French calls "islands of repression in a sea of liberty." Professors have seemed to have figured out answers to all of life’s great questions. The Academy is, without a doubt, the left’s last vast impenetrable fortress. It is an ideological monopoly on truth, which, as Victor Davis Hansen has said, “has adopted a therapeutic curriculum in pursuit of political objectives.” The pseudo-religious rhetoric of “diversity” has replaced the great rhetorical social questions of Plato and Aristotle; the relationship between God and man, virtue and vice, heroism and cowardice, and beauty and wisdom. These questions have been replaced with an obsession, not of veritas, but with skin color.

Rutgers Professors and staff gave 104 times more money to John Kerry than George W. Bush in the 2004 election cycyle. One Hundred and Four to One. This ratio is comparable to the political diversity present under the rule of Genghis Khan.

In our beloved Academy; a supposed citadel of intellectual brilliance, its commanding officers have become intellectual sloths; unchallenged by any principled conservative opposition and unbridled to invite speakers to campus to compare Bush to the Ku Klux Klan, or rant about how the war to liberate the middle east is morally bad in a class completely unrelated to international relations or its relating philosophies.

From a journalistic standpoint, THE CENTURION is an avowedly conservative magazine. We implore our detractors who demand political balance to weigh us on the scale against other student publications including The Medium, the Green Print, The Review and The Caellian. Let’s not forget The Daily Targum, a newspaper from which I was once fired. Worry not my Leftists; the academic fulcrum still tips in favor of you; if not in print (we’ll take this potential newfound conservative leaning as a testament to our success), then decidedly so in the classroom. THE CENTURION arrived on the scene last November to a blazing fire, extinguishing it with guerilla tactics; awards on doors, sensitivity complaints, racist cereals and needed muckraking against local political cronyism. This sardonic approach seems to have had more efficacy and influence on our student body which cares as much about truth as Muslims care about Jesus.

On our campus common sense is blurred by obfuscation; the p.c. patrol, the diversity police, the self-esteem deans, the speech codes, and the professors violating core tenets of academic freedom, etc.

I founded THE CENTURION because I have a dream...

I have a dream where diversity refers to more than just the melanin in one’s skin; where conservatives are not to be called “fascists” for advocating pluralities of methodologies, perspectives and common sense views.

I have a dream that Lucky Charms is thought of as a breakfast cereal rather than a symbol of Leprechaun oppression.

I have a dream where the banning of “offensive” Grease Trucks sandwich names is of little consequence compared to the rapes of women off campus.

I have a dream someone realizes Rutgers’ financial woes just might be due to dozens of committees and caucuses “devoted to advancing our common purposes” as well as pork programs and counselors and their Deans that believe self-esteem is more important than the process by which you earn it.

I have a dream where we realize guns are no more responsible for Columbine than spoons are responsible for Michael Moore’s obesity.

I have a dream where we lay our presents under Christmas Trees, not holiday shrubs.

I have a dream at least one building or program or committee or scholarship will be named after our Rutgers’ Nobel peace prize winning graduate Milton Friedman, RC ’32. His axiom that political freedom requires economic freedom is a lesson learned only by visiting the graves of the innocent women and children butchered to death by bloodthirsty tyrants; economic atrocities condoned by the applause of Paul Robeson's supporters.

I have a dream where bureaucrats, uneducated in matters relating to life’s great questions, stop putting restrictions on what I can or can’t say, stop enacting policies that arbitrarily prohibit behavior, and stop making value judgments on what I believe.

I have a dream where conservative faculty are free from ideological witch hunts; where political opinions and/or skin color is prohibited from being considered in the hiring of university professors.

I have a dream where the unfair employment practices and accusations against one of our nations most gifted sociobiologists because of his conservative leaning, is prosecuted by the fullest extent of the law.

I have a dream where they will introduce a biology prerequisite for women’s studies classes.

For we the conservatives, ironically, have become the modern day Henry David Thoreaus, albeit in a less revolutionary way. For we, the silent majority, “stand athwart history yelling stop” in a place and at a time when our professors and peers call for radical change.

None of us knew each other a year ago. A man I considered my best friend last year betrayed me over chalk yielding, gown wearing overly ambitious students buying into their own hype. I have met others since then. The unappreciated wisdom of the encyclopedic Wesley James Young; whose civility is only matched by his compassion. The southern legal language of Jeff Erickson. The untapped artistic genius and patience of Justine Mertz. The editorial prowess of my successor, Dan Whitney, who spent late nights (and their accompanying early mornings) at production meetings curbing his enthusiasm, as well as the timely alarm on his wristwatch. The honor in Alan Marrero’s eyes. The steadfast morale of Greg Walker. The Enigmatic Matt Klimek, consummate but withdrawn...

We publish onward, not in the name of our friendship, but for the love of our cause. We have nothing to offer but a slightly naïve, scant knowledge of modern conservatism from our readings in outside publications, books and recently, online journals. The intellectual sloths and anonymous cowards at the pulpit in the ivory tower at Rutgers who read this sentiment will post on their blogs, with relief, our efforts are not nearly enough to dethrone them! For we do not have the required experience, cannot battle student apathy and have not read as much third-rate Marxist hogwash.

But our superior ideas have been time tested, consecrated by the blood of martyrs, victorious in the world of reality strife-torn by a century plagued by revolution. Our naiveté is offset by our courage, bound not for each other but for our cause on a campus that unites in condemning us. I have been hated more in the last year of my life than in the past 20 years of my existence combined, and most likely more hated than you readers. And if that seems somewhat dramatic, you’re damn right it is. So entrenched are we in our cause, Matt, Justine and I forfeited characteristics of coyness and prudence long after we received the anonymous death threats, to prove a point that we weren’t even certain would turn out to be effective.

Transcending all of this; we decided to do something about which we cared. We challenged people to see our version of the truth. It is my contention we have succeeded.

And that, ladies and gentlemen, leaves us about the hottest thing in town.

James O'Keefe

Originally printed in the December 2005 issue of the Centurion.

What Your Professors Don't Want You To Read, Part I

What Your Professors Don't Want You To Read

NJO: Also: Books your professors don't want you to read. Basically the same page twice, hey ho.

Up from Liberalism "If you like liberalism, You'll Loathe Buckley"  William F. Buckley Jr. 11/26/2004

The Politics of Bad Faith Horowitz attacks the Acedemic Elite David Horowitz 11/26/2004

The Road to Serfdom Hayek proves that socialism will always lead to tyranny  F. A. Hayek 11/26/2004

Why we Fight Bennet reinforces a right and wrong with terrorism William Bennet 11/26/2004

Capitalism and Freedom Rutgers '32 connects political freedom with economic freedom Milton Friedman 11/26/2004

Why the Left Hates America Flynn exoposes the left for what it truly is  Daniel J. Flynn 11/26/2004

Michael Moore is a Big Fat Stupid White Man How Mikey edits those films very carefully Hardy and Clarke 11/26/2004

The Savage Nation Micheal Savage 11/26/2004

Our Character, Our future Alan Keyes 11/26/2004

Leadership Rudolph Giuiani 11/26/2004

The truth shall set you free

General George Patton once said "When everyone is thinking the same, no one is thinking at all." Throughout my life, in all my pursuits of obtaining knowledge, the one thing that has stimulated me most has been a good challenge. Everyone is in agreement that the only way to learn is through constant stimulation.

Conservatives and traditionalists are in this respect very fortunate in college. They are challenged. They learn material through postmodernism, historical revisionism and the plight of the disenfranchised. The are forced to disect morality and examine the ethical obligations of the West. They are lectured about the injustices and struggles of those who have been victim of systems favorable to those in power. They are drowned in relativism, concepts of distributive justice and redistribution of wealth. They are taught that there is no such thing as truth and you are not allowed to make judgments upon anyone or anything, except America. They are taught to be sensitive and defensive, emphasizing artifice and political correctness over fact. For Rutgers students who have not taken any classes in the liberal arts, look no further than your mandatory Expository Writing course. You read about the evils of capitalism and the gluttony of America. You read about the corruption of the elections processes which elect diplomatic morons. You learned about the consequences of globalization, the need for cultural contexts and the corruption of an all men's institution discriminating against women. Liberals are very unfortunate in college. They aren't really challenged at all.

Have advocates for progress with an alleged pursuit of tolerance ever attempted to understand or listen to their conservative counterparts, the same way they tell their America to listen to their political enemies? Have they been forced to read the Nobel Peace Prize winning works of free enterprise by Milton Friedman (A Rutgers graduate) or Friedrich Hayek the same way I have been forced to read the communist works of Karl Marx? Have they studied Ayn Rand's objectivism, Edmund Burke's belief in "sound practice" or William F. Buckley's "Up from Liberalism?" Do they see they are living in the most fruitful and prosperous country in the world, admiring egalitarian systems that in 20 th century have lead to more barbaric cruelty, famine and death than any privileged American intellect could ever fathom? Have those in academia been challenged morally? Have they studied the principles that this country was founded upon? Have they studied principles of liberty, freedom, justice, and equality, and truly compared them to the principles of other societies?

Why, in a country that is at least half conservative, do we not have this ratio represented in higher learning? Some will say conservatives shouldn't have a right to express themselves. Some say principles of limited government, personal responsibility or of an objective standard are flat out wrong. In the words of Michael Moore, "let's have that debate." But let's not have it through the filter of a professor who has endorsed a certain candidate or who always comes from a certain ideological perspective. Let Rutgers be a place as President McCormick envisioned in his Inaugural Address "where there is tolerance for the student who challenges the professor's ideas." If our arguments are so flawed, so unsound and so problematic, then let us expose them for everyone to criticize. Then we will rest our case.

There is nothing academic about an ideological majority. There is nothing liberal about a monopoly of thought, nothing enlightening about blatant partisan endorsement, and nothing equitable about discriminating against conservative students and professors because their beliefs are different than your own. Rutgers is a diverse research university with a goal not only to represent the citizens of New Jersey, but views and theories from all over the country and the world. More importantly, it is an academic institution that pursues something even deeper, beyond knowledge or ideology, beyond the rhetoric of a debate.

"Sol Iustate et occidentem Illustra." "Sun of righteousness shine upon the west also." For the past 200 years and to this day Rutgers lives by that motto. Give us virtue, give us justice, give us truth. So read about our truth to challenge yourself politically in the process. Find out that although we go about it differently, we are in pursuit of the same things you are. Disguising truth has helped every blood-thirsty tyrant and dictator keep the shackles on humanity throughout history. Let us rock the foundations of academia and challenge the thrones that have for too long indoctrinated us about our world and the context in which we live. As the Journal of Conservative thought at Rutgers university THE CENTURION will try its hardes to serve to that end. Turn the page. You may read things you agree with and you may read things that you disagree with. But at least you'll come closer to realizing your own truth, and in the words of Jesus Christ, "The truth shall set you free."

Cordially,
James O'Keefe
Founder, Editor-in-Chief
THE CENTURION
Veritas Vos Liberabit






NJO: Originally printed in the November 2004 issue of The Centurion (Issue 1) and also posted on the Centurion website.

So, some perspective.

James and some other students have just started a conservative-leaning college magazine. You pick up a copy of this new magazine, and right there on the front cover, James is telling you that if you get an abortion from an unregulated and unsafe practitioner and as a consequence suffer some horrible bodily harm which causes you to die, then as far as he's concerned it's really all a bit of a giggle because fuck you you dirty whore. It gets your attention in a trollish sort of way, so you turn to page 3, and you read the editorial above.

What are you supposed to think?